Peace Corps Kenya - Lisa was in the Peace Corps and lived in Kenya from 1995-1997
Peace Corps Kenya
Lisa was in the Peace Corps and lived in Kenya from 1995-1997. Dave joined her in 1997 for a few months. These are some highlights.
Sitting on my front patio with (from left) Eva, small Lisa and Colins, some of my neighbors' children. They were frequent visitors to my house and always entertaining.
This is Colins & Lisa now (1999). Aren't they cute??
That's my humble house on the compound of my school, Gathungururu Girls' Secondary School. I know it looks like a prison, but it is only because the windows are all on the back. There are two rooms--the bedroom, and the all-purpose "other" room. Hand washed laundry is drying on the line, and the "bathroom" is that metal structure behind the clothesline.
My school was near Mount Kenya, seen here in a remarkable picture taken from the window of a moving matatu, Kenya's ridiculously crowded public transport vehicles.
That's my friend Erin and her sister from the house where she lived during our training. They're making chapati, a yummy fried bread, cooking it over a flame, as many Kenyans do.
The fabulous five, on our swearing in day, when we became official PCVs after 3 months of training. (L to R) Erin, me, Sara, Gretta, Mary Anne. Probably the cleanest we were in the whole two years.
Mary Anne and I met these Masai girls (who were all pregnant and wondered why we weren't) in Naivasha. The one next to me was quite jealous of my hair.
Bob Braganza, our mack daddy admin officer, and his harem, at the annual 4th of July bash thrown by the Embassy in Nairobi. We found it to be a time of other Americans in the country celebrating the fact that they made a whole whole lot more money than we volunteers did (they would bring Tupperware and stuff to sell for as much as we made in weeks).
The students in Kenya are extremely hard working, despite a severe lack of resources. They share books, pencils, desks, everything. They are incredibly sweet and loving, and this was my favorite class--Form 2 (10th grade).
Dave and I had a tough time with water during the drought which hit in January of 1997. The shortage was so severe that our students had to miss class to walk to a nearby river to fetch bath water. Thankfully, the rains started before we ran completely out of food (but we did learn to make plain rice in almost any flavor).
The girls had many duties other than their studies at school These girls are harvesting potatoes from the school shamba (garden) to be cooked in with their meals. The building in the back is the dining hall.
These are my two best Kenyan friends. The one on the left is Ann Maina, the mother of Colins and small Lisa. The one on the right is Esther Kung'u, the most American Kenyan I met at work. Two fun and sweet gals. This picture was taken at the end of the year / farewell banquet, about a month before I left to return to America.